A blog about food, travel and fun.

I Like Kitchen By Mike….

Do you ever have those days where you can’t decide what you want for lunch and you walk around aimlessly for an hour during your lunch break and settle for something sub-par? Ever wish there was a gourmet cafeteria style eatery where you could pick and choose what you wanted from a long list of amazing lunch options made from fresh, seasonal ingredients? Or, ever wanted to relax on a weekend morning surrounded by beautiful home wares while enjoying a long brunch?

If so, you can rejoice, your prayers have been answered! Kitchen by Mike has teamed up with trendy Swedish designers, Koskela’s warehouse to turn it into a retail slash buffet style café headed up by ex-Rockpool chef Mike McEnearney. The warehouse and foodie haven is located in Rosebery and open for breakfast and lunch daily. Unfortunately I haven’t tried either but I had the pleasure of attending their recent dinner when they teamed with up-and-coming wine label, Match Box Wines.

The night started outside in the garden with beautiful sparkling wine and crostinis served with smashed peas and fat anchovies and the other with goat’s cheese… after tasting both, I became even more excited about what was to come for the main courses. Once we were all seated on two large communal tables (60 people on each) the wine started flowing and the good food continued. Firstly, we were served fresh, house-baked sourdough with butter, dutch carrots and sea salt. I know it might not sound like much but the organic carrots lathered in the creamy butter and dipped in the salt were amazing and was the perfect demonstration that when it comes to great quality produce, all you need is the basics to create big, beautiful flavours.

For the entrée we had “lazy sushi”, just as the name suggests the raw fish, rice and seaweed was placed in disarray over our plate and devoured within minutes. After all this food, we were happy to have a break and talk to our new friends/strangers sitting next to us. With the Match Box Wine matched wines flowing like a rapid, the conversation was also flowing and we had the opportunity to talk to the man behind to wine, who informed us his label made it onto the Bible’s (Gourmet Traveller) best wine list as the up-and-comer, and I can understand why.

The main meal was a lamb hot pot full of veggies, rich in flavour and lick-your-plate material. Thankfully there were plenty of bread and butter to do that so I saved myself the embarrassment. It was served with mash potato, and the large pots were placed on the tables so I could keep going back for more, which I did. Just when I thought I was going to explode, we were served house made peach sorbet as a palate cleanser before we got to indulge in cheese, crackers and dried grapes, the perfect accompaniment to the stunning red we were drinking. A meal doesn’t get much better than that….

Follow them on Facebook or twitter or sign up to their newsletter so you can be informed on when their next dinner will be served – no doubt you will see me there!

The bitter: The location – I would eat here every week if I could

The sweet: All of it, from start to finish

The damage: $120 for as much food and wine you could consume….. not bad at all!

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